Lovin' My Crazy Family

Rounding out our FAMILY!

2011-08-05T07:23:00.002-06:00

We are expecting #6!! We are so excited and our boys can't wait! It has been a whirlwind worrying about wether or not we were going to be pregnant with twins again, a higher chance after we already had twins. Safe to say, there is only one baby!! I am slightly relieved and Aaron is a little sad, he thought 2 sets of twins would be so fun...although it would be an adventure, I was scared!

We of course are hoping for a GIRL and have figured it is the pattern in our family! Boy - Aydan, Girl - Lilia, Boy - Asher, Girl - Ella, Boy - Cruz, GIRL?!? We will see. We are so happy and can't wait until the end of February to welcome our new addition!!

STOMACH FLU, need I say more...

2011-06-27T10:55:00.002-06:00

My house has literally been plagued with the flu. I have never seen such a strong bug sick around for so long. The first person, AARON!! I do think having a sick husband is way worse than sick kids. Not only do you still have to take care of your 4 kids, but you now have a sick husband that needs love and attention, too much work. His sickness started on June 5, while we were in Utah. The rest of the week he seemed just fine with no illness...then Friday happened. I was planning to take my 6 kids (my 4 and Amy's 2) to the zoo when Aaron got sick again, same thing. Sunday then Friday, REALLY? Sick husband again? So I took the 6 kids to the zoo, ALONE!

I think it has passed, we skip Saturday and then Sunday, June 12 Aydan wakes up not feeling well. He feels better by Monday, but then by Wednesday Aydan gets it bad. Throwing up all night and writhing in pain for 3 days!! I think he is sick from eating SAND, because Peyton is sick as well. I'm actually praying it's sand so that none of the other kids get sick. So, now it is Saturday, June 18, we are at the Rockies game for dinner group and I get several texts from my babysitter saying, Ella has thrown up like 6 times. RIDICULOUS!! We leave the game early, get the babysitter sent home and not 5 minutes later, Asher is throwing up. Get Asher cleaned up, Ella calmed down, go to bed, hear coughing on the baby monitor, CRUZ is now up throwing up. SERIOUSLY?!? Must they share everything.

The laundry is not stop at my house. The babies have continued to have Diarrhea all week and I have had to change their sheets 1-2 times a day this week. I think it is fading. Aaron and I attempt date night #2. At the movies, receive a text, Ella is throwing up all over her bed. NO WAY!! We leave to come home immediately, one babysitter has been thrown up on in that time. Ella continues to vomit until she throws up a little bit of blood. This results in a long late night at Children's. She doesn't throw up all day Saturday but on Sunday, June 26 she throws up again. And this morning I get a call the Mya, my niece is also sick.

Needless to say the sickness is never going away. We are now on week 3!!! I have no been at my ward for all meetings for the entire month of June. I finally made is to just sacrament meeting where everyone was asking where we have been. Why do we have the stomach flu in the middle of summer? NO FUN!

Today SHE would be 4...

2011-03-25T06:08:00.000-06:00

Today is a day unlike any other. Today is our beautiful baby, Lilia's birthday. Today she would be 4, I cannot believe that 4 years have gone by since the last time I held her and she was with us. It can't be... I feel like it was yesterday I was able to say, Hello, and then sadly say, Goodbye. I tell myself that after 4 years this should be easier, I shouldn't be as emotional or sad. But every year on this day I take the time to remember ever minute I did spend with her. I don't talk about Lilia very often but I think about her every day. I miss her every day. Just this last week I was teaching piano lessons and one of my students was playing, Families Can Be Together Forever, and I had to fight off the tears. For me, I know this to be true. We will one day be able to hold her and take care of her. She will be able to meet her brothers and sister and they will know her. I don't usually share many of the sentiments from that time but I want to share the words of my mother in law, Anne Davey. She spoke at Lilia's Funeral and this is what she said.

Lilia Sue Shafenberg

For 8 months I tried to convince Emily to name this baby after me & her Mother, Lisa. But, Emily was unwavering, and of course she could articulate exactly why the name Lilia was perfect! Emily’s favorite flower is the calla lily. Aaron’s favorite bible passage is Matthew 6:28 – “Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin”. Aaron & Emily’s marriage blessing was adorned with beautiful calla lilies. And of course, Aydan could easily pronounce the name “LILI”. So, just as her parents intended, Lilia was indeed, a perfect name for a perfect child!

L – I – L – I – A.

L – is for the LOVE this family had for Lilia long, long before she arrived. We knew her scheduled birth date. We knew her name. The nursery was perfectly decorated. This family could not wait to share their love with Lilia!

I – is for the INNOCENCE of a child. Completely unstained by the flaws of our world, Lilia is now bathed in the pure white of GOD’s love.

L – is for the LASTING memories this family will have of our beautiful Lilia. Her full head of hair, her long feet, her cleft chin and her perfect fingers and toes. Although we had only a few hours with her, those hours produced a lifetime of memories!

I – is for the INFINITE wisdom and mercy of GOD. However difficult to understand, we now place our trust in HIS plan.

A – is for this ANGEL sent to Aaron, Emily and Aydan Shafenberg. A gift on loan, now back home with GOD.

Lilia we love you and miss you and can't wait to see you again, but for now we know our Heavenly Father is holding you and taking care of you until we meet again.

Girls weekend, Amazing Aaron, & Park Pictures

2011-03-18T14:29:00.008-06:00

Last weekend I left my 4 kids for the first time!! I went on a 3 day girls trip to the mountains. I felt a little guilty leaving Aaron with all of the kids, but he is amazing!! So, I took 4 friends and SIL Tiffany for a fun weekend of crafting in Breckinridge. It started on Friday with lunch and shopping at the outlets. We then started scrapbooking/quilting at 4pm Friday and didn't leave until we were headed home on Sunday at noon. It was such a fun time and I did an entire baby book for Ella. I am so grateful for my friends and the time we had to just do something fun and get a break from the everyday norm.

While I was gone Aaron was here with all of the kids and he has to be the best dad ever. I called him at 7:20am on Saturday...all the kids were dressed, the car was cleaned out, and he was taking them to breakfast. He even got Ella all dressed in an adorable outfit and texted me a picture!! AMBITIOUS for a Saturday. He took Aydan to baseball practice, took the kids out for meals and even got them all up early Sunday (daylight savings) and took the boys to church. He is a really great dad and husband, what a blessing he is to me. I love him so much! Speaking of Aaron...

Aaron has been having a lot of drama at work with his manager and district manager. His manager was never trained and was never a very good manager and Aaron knew it. The District Manager then put the manager on probation. Aaron was off Monday when he got a call from him manager saying, "I quit UPS!" Aaron was shocked! Aaron went back to work Tuesday to his District Manager putting him in charge while they are trying to replace his manager. Aaron has been in charge since Tuesday and already his Center at work has done better than it had ever done last year and today it did the best it has ever done!! Aaron is an amazing leader and really taken his temporary responsibilities seriously!! I'm so impressed!

That's what we have been up to. It's really been pretty calm at home and the kids are doing so great. We took our first spring day out to the park this week. The kids had a great time. The babies were so cute and loved going down the slides. Ella has a few texture issues so she did not want to sit in the grass of the wood chips. It is pretty funny! I love my little family!

Ella Loved the tube slide!!

Asher is tackling Aydan and I from behind!

My kids make the silliest faces!

These two are both very particular about their hands!

They both figured out that you scoot forward to go!

Cruz was a little more tentative about the dark tube slide!

Ella wouldn't move for fear she would fall in the wood chips!

New sunglasses!

Getting ready!

He caught me through a hole in the tunnel!

Happy Birthday Ella & Cruz!!! 1 year in pictures!

2011-02-09T09:11:00.011-07:00

1 year today!! - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Ella and Cruz are 1 today! I can't believe how fast it went and how much fun we had. They are just the two sweetest babies and have such fun personalities. They are both officially walking, a little unsteady at times, but I can't believe they can walk. Ella is still petite as ever and just beautiful. Cruz is such a lover and loves to snuggle. Here is what our year looked like...

Getting ready for the babies to come, at the hospital.

Aaron ready for the c-section.

Babies first picture together.

1 week, getting ready to go home.

1 month, adorable and handsome.

Ella 1 month.

1 month

Baby Blessing

Tie dye - 2 months

3 months

Easter 2010

Stripes and Polka dots - 4 months

Our Golfer - 4.5 months

Flower girl - 4.5 months

4th of July - 5 months

Great Grandpa Lee's 83 - 6 months

Ella - 6 months

At the soccer game - 7 months

Can't resist those eyes - 7 months

Cruz Haircut # 3(Ella no hair!) - 8 months

Park in Breckenridge - 8 months

Breckenridge - 8 months

Utah - 9 months

UPS visit, we are cute in our brown - 10 months

Christmas - 10.5 months

Breckenridge family weekend - 11 months

Making Adjustments!!

2011-01-27T08:50:00.002-07:00

Making adjustments to a very routine life is pretty difficult!! For months now we had heard Aaron's position at UPS would be changing and we were both really excited for Aaron to get a new opportunity to do something different. We knew the hours were going to be a be change but for us we think it will be for the best. So, last Monday Aaron started his new job as a PDS (Package Dispatch Supervisor, I think??). He has to be into work by 12:30 am, YES that is close to midnight. He works from 12:30-11:00am and needless to say we have had to make a lot of adjustments. The hardest of course being a sleep schedule!!

Aaron claims he doesn't need that much sleep but 4 hours is just not enough. So every night we bicker about when he should go to bed. He tries to be in bed by 7, but still that is only 4.5 hours of sleep!!! So during the day he tries to get in a nap for a few hours too. This has been hard since the twins go to bed at 7 but the boys don't really go to bed until 8 or 8:30. Aaron of course feels bad going to bed before the boys so we have tried putting the boys to be early too, but man that has made for some rough mornings. Now Aydan and Asher are waking up at 5:30-6, MISERABLE!! I of course am not an early to bed, early to rise person. I stay up until 11 and then Aaron wakes up at 11:30. It is pretty bizarre...we are still adjusting!

THE POSITIVES!!!

Aaron is home all day and actually gets to spend time with the kids!!
Aydan loves that his dad picks him up from the bus and is here to play with him.
Aaron will be going back to school to finish up his disagree.
I get to go anywhere and do anything after every one is asleep, this usually includes a trip to the gym, red mango and target. Hit me up if you want to go too!
I love seeing Aaron in the day light hours!

Hopefully we will get the hang of this very soon and things will run smoothly again!

One big Family VACATION!

2011-01-14T13:08:00.006-07:00

RECKENRIDGE!!! We had the amazing opportunity to go to the mountains with my entire family for the weekend, that's now 23 people now!! We had a really great time. I don't even remember the last time we were on a family vacation?!? We drove up early on Friday afternoon so the kids could play in the snow and the second we got there they were ready to hit the hill (the driveway). My dad was so nice to stand at the top of the hill and push all of the boys down. Asher's first time sledding and he was in heaven. He would get to the top, get pushed down and then once he got to the bottom he would get up and grab his sled and run back up the hill, I was exhausted just watching him. I love that we have this beautiful house to go stay at with our family, it is such a blessing. The second day we got out Jen's snowmobile. It was so much fun for the kids. My dad flipped it on his first ride, but got the hang of it shortly after. Aaron and Steffan took turns giving the kids each a ride, it was so fun to watch. Then Aaron rigged a sled to the back and got the kids going pretty fast around a track. SO MUCH FUN!!! The babies were great the whole weekend. It is so nice to travel with kids and not have to worry about them not doing well. I've got to say, they are pretty great!!! Thanks to my whole family for the fun times. We are just grateful we made it home...our tires weren't cooperating in getting out of the driveway, going up I-70 to Eisenhower, or getting into town...it was a rough 4 hour drive!! Needless to say we got new tires on Monday!

Peyton, Asher and Aydan on the sled behind the snowmobile

Asher laying down and Aydan sliding off the back because Asher is kicking him!!

Asher driving with Daddy!

Steffan and Peyton out for a ride!

Aaron and Ruby driving!

Aydan and Dad, but Aydan did not want to go!

My Dad tipping the snowmobile, first run!

He is sledding right into a group of people, hence the smile!

First encounter with Aydan!

Isn't he cute!!

Daddy and Asher made it all the way to the garage!

Aunt Traci came for a visit, Ella liked her a lot!

I love his faces!

Max came up early and played with us all afternoon!

Parent/Teacher - So difficult!

2011-01-05T12:37:00.003-07:00

Recently I have been thinking a lot about Aydan's education. We have encountered a lot of struggles this year, some I knew would come but others are a little hard to handle. Aydan is a really smart kid, but he is A LOT lazy!! Of course I am probably responsible for this since I have 3 other kids that need attention and sometime what Aydan is doing goes by the way side. He used to love school, I mean seriously love school. Now there are days when he doesn't even want to go because it is TOO HARD!! He has struggled with his fine motor skills (holding his pencil correctly), and we are in a constant battle to get him to write more. When I say battle I mean it literally. There is yelling, crying, stomping, slamming of doors, just over school work. So, this is where I find it difficult to draw the line between parent and teacher. I want to teach him but I lack the patience. All I want is for him to be successful and smart. A recently met with his teacher and to describe him she said he gets an A in social skills. He is the popular kid. Everyone wants to be his friend, he is funny, he is just the life the of class. Yes, this is a good thing, but not all of the time. He gets easily distracted and when she tries to move Aydan to a new table he just makes new friends. It even got to the point where the teacher had to ask me what she could do because she had exhausted her ideas. REALLY KID, JUST DO YOUR WORK!! So here we are at the second half of the year...he had assessments yesterday and the teacher said he did fine and was doing well, but then he comes home today and I find out he has been moved to the lower reading group...frustrating. Well, there you have it, I have ranted long enough. Any advice fellow mothers?? How do you get a good reader and writer and still have your child like you???

I'm gonna be a better blogger...

2011-01-02T20:31:00.004-07:00

I really want to be a better blogger, but man it is hard to sit and post. Since my last post almost a year and half ago, a lot has happened. We have our beautiful twins and what an adventure this year has been. We love having four kids.

I have really enjoyed the challenges and joys twins bring. I realized that you can parent twins just like a single baby, and that has made all the difference. They are very routine and are great babies. They have slept through the night since 8 weeks, they eat great, they have such fun personalities and they love people. I make it a point to go somewhere once a day, you may think this is a little crazy, but really taking 4 kids to the store is not that bad. We go everywhere and we have fun.

Aydan and Asher are becoming better friends and love to play with each other. They wrestle all of the time but their favorite thing is to jump on the trampoline. They can spend hours in the back yard jumping. Aydan is in kindergarten and loves school. He is getting so smart, it has been so much fun to see him learn.

Asher is going to school one day a week and he absolutely loves going. Every day he wants to go. He loves helping the babies, but sometimes he is too helpful.

Life is crazy sometimes, but we prefer it that way. We don't want to get to lax or bored around here. I love being a mom and enjoy learning new stuff about being a parent. I like to think I could write a book some day about being a mom. Not that I know any more than the next mom but everybody's experiences are different. Instead of a book and I will just share those experiences here and what works for me as a mother.

2011 is going to be a great year. I am looking forward to everything that comes my way. We had a rough start yesterday...babies to children's hospital, bad case of croup...I was struck with the stomach flu today. Not the best way to start the year, but we take everything in stride.

NEW MOON!

2009-11-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

So, I went and saw New Moon, and it was awesome!! I had such a great time. I was planning to go to the midnight showing last night, but instead my sister Jen got free tickets to a pre-screening at 9:30. It was so nice to not have to go so late at night. I had such a great time!! My sister Amy, sister-in-law Tiffany, and niece Sadie all went with me. I loved the movie, and since it was my least favorite book of the series, the movie helped me like it a little more. The special effects were amazing. Hope everyone enjoys it!!

Twins, Twenty-Seven, Trip to Mountains

2009-08-27T08:35:00.000-06:00

I am having twins!! I am sure most of you already know, but I just wanted to share over the blogosphere. We have been to the doctor everything is looking great. We will find out in about 4 weeks if they are boys or girls. We do know they are identical and are secretly hoping for girls to even out our family. Aydan is so excited and always tells everyone there are two babies in my tummy. My tummy... already showing and only 13 weeks. This is weird because when I am pregnant I don't usually show until 20 weeks. I am sadly going to have to break out the maternity clothes this week. I will keep you all updated on the gender of the twins as we find out!!

I turned 27!! Last Saturday, August 22, I turned 27 years old. It was such a fun Birthday to celebrate with my entire family. I feel so much older than 27. After all it is just a number. I feel like I have had too many life experiences to only be 27. I think I have aged at least 10 extra years. So for all of you, that makes me older than all of my friends, 37!! I just wanted to say thanks to my parents and my siblings for celebrating my birthday with us!

Trip to Mountains!! For my Birthday we headed to Breckenridge for a fun weekend with our boys and my family. It was at first just going to be us but then my parents decided to come and before we knew it, Amy and Cory both brought their families. We love going to the mountains. We would seriously live there if we could. Our boys just love going there and spending time with their cousins and enjoying the outdoors. I don't know where my boys got it, but they are obsessed with being outside. It is just a new adventure every time. Our first adventure in the mountains was to the Alpine Slide. I love the alpine slide and I was not going to let being pregnant stop me from heading down the mountain. We all paired up with a kid got to take a trip down. Aydan went up with me on the chair lift and I think that was the scariest part. He was holding on for dear life and I am a little scared of chair lifts so I had to be brave for him. He loved the slide. He wanted to go faster the entire time. At one point someone was going to catch up and he didn't like that so we hurried down. At the bottom Aaron waited to take his turn and took pictures of everyone coming down. It is nice to catch those moments. I will post pictures as soon as I get them unloaded from the camera. After the alpine slide, we went to the river in the center of Breckenridge. It was ice cold but the kids just loved jumping from rock to rock and playing in the water. We got to take a really cute picture of our family... to come later! That afternoon just the girls, Tiffany, Amy, my mom and I all got to take a short shopping trip, it was nice to leave the kids for a little while. That night we went out to dinner for mine and Cory's Birthdays - turned 33. So much fun, just adults. I loved the entire weekend of games and food and more food!!

4th of July..a week later.

2009-07-13T09:22:00.000-06:00

To start out the 4th of July we had a ward breakfast - planned by me, and then a bike parade. It was so much fun for the kids to decorate bikes and ride around the church. Asher hopped on Ruby's bike and just had a great time. After that we headed to the lake, the weather wasn't great, but it's a holiday so you just make the best of it. We had so much fun and everyone just got to play all day.

Ruby and Asher at the bike parade!

Aaron just hanging out at the lake!

My Dad doing the Rope Swing!

Dustin doing the Rope Swing!

My mom with Tiffany and her kids on the Peddle Boat!

Mya doing the rope swing, she didn't go from the top, but still very brave!

Tiffany wakeboarding!

After spending the day at the lake we headed to the storage to watch fireworks and set off some of our own.

Me and the boys just before the fireworks!

Aaron trying to get Asher to not be scared.

After spending the day with my family, we spent the rest of the weekend with Aaron's family. We went to a Lori's pool and had a great time. Aydan was so brave. He did the diving board and the slide. He even got stung by a wasp twice. We got him all taken care of and then back to the water and the diving board. He is getting so big. It was such a fun weekend.

First trip to the lake

2009-06-06T18:36:00.001-06:00

Today was our first trip to the lake this summer... and we forgot the camera. All of us did! We had a great time and it was so beautiful today. All of the grandkids went on the tubes with the grandparents (my mom and dad). Even Asher!! My little one year old had a great time sitting with his grandpa on the tube, he was all smiles, but NO CAMERA!!! Why is it that you take your camera every where you go and then on the one day when something fun and exciting happens, you don't have it?!? I bet Tiffany was just as disappointed to not have her camera either. The lake is so much fun. We are so lucky to have the lake, and to be able to teach our kids new things.

By the way. Asher is officially a walker!! He took his first steps on April 26, just 4 days before his birthday! Then on May 26 he took off. He has almost completely stopped crawling. He is so big. We love him so much and especially love his personality. I will post pictures later!

Catching up... Rafting and Piano Lessons

2009-05-26T07:37:00.000-06:00

Rafting the Royal Gorge...before

As you can tell by my last post, it has been 2 months since I last blogged. We have moved into our new house and things are getting slowly put together. When I feel it is picture worthy/ready, I will post pictures.

So over the Holiday weekend we took an amazing rafting trip with our dinner group. We have 6 couples that usually go, but we missed our friends, the Kovachs, because she is 7 months pregnant. The other 5 couples all came and we had a great time. We were able to go down to Canon City, CO and take a trip down the Royal Gorge. Because it is so early in the season and there is so much runoff, the water was extremely high and fast. Our guide is the brother-in-law of one of our dinner group members. He didn't charge us hardly anything. He was experienced and straight forward. I think he scared a few members of the group. There were two choices, either the Gorge which is mostly class 5 (the hardest) or Big Horn which has only 1-2 class 5s. We decided to be brave and go down in the first group down the Gorge. I have to say, when you get on the raft and your guide starts saying things like, "this one even scares me," or "I'm not going to lie, this one isn't my favorite." It doesn't really instill confidence. Needless to say during the first class 5 literally 10 minutes into the trip, 3 of us were tossed off. The two others were rescued immediately, where as I was forced down under the boat and down river. I have never been so cold in my life. The temperature was about 60 degrees and breezy outside and the water was a bout 50 degrees. Luckily I made it out of the water, a little bruised and beat up, but it was an adventure. Once I gathered myself, we were right at it again. There were not breaks. These rapids were one right after the other. I will admit I thought to myself, can I just hike out? do I have to go the next 8 miles down the river? I was brave and kept paddling my way down.

after

Pretty soon we come to the BOAT EATER Rapid. This is when our guide says this one scares him. GREAT, so fun! Of course, Aaron goes off in the worst possible place, we were lucky he got right back on. Our guide said the last boat that flipped there, the entire group had to be given CPR and rescued by rope from the sides of the river. SCARY, glad he didn't tell us that before we went through it. Aaron was pretty beat up, but nothing we couldn't handle. We had a great time, we are sore and I think I have whiplash today, but so fun!!!

after

The next group decided to take it a little easier and go down the Big Horn Sheep. The came back with not fall outs and had a great time too.

Thank you to all of our friends for a fun day, I still can feel the freezing cold water...brrrrr!

PIANO LESSONS

Well, since I have moved into my new house I can finally start teaching more piano lessons at home. I have been teaching about 8 kids for the last year, from home, but now I finally have more time and want to take on more students. I am really trying to get my name out there and get more students. I teach all ages starting at 3 1/2 and will teach up to any age. I love to teach. I really enjoy piano and seeing the growth that happens when someone practices and they pass of songs and seeing them accomplish so much. SO FUN!! Well, if you are here in the area and are looking for a piano teacher or know of anyone else who is, let me know or let them know. I teach out of my house, but I also will come to your house and teach if that is your preference.

Piano Recital in December

Finally, updated the blog. I have much more to update on, but I will save that for later.

It's Official!

2009-03-27T14:28:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone, well it is finally official. We have got our house. We are going to be closing on April 22nd and we can't wait. It has taken almost 2 months to find out if we got it, but it was worth the wait. I don't have any pictures right now, but the people move out on Tuesday and we will go by on Thursday and get a few pictures of our new empty house. It will be about 2.5x the space we have now. Needless to say, there will be many empty rooms. We will be moving into the Thornton ward to a neighborhood on 136th and Holly. I will keep you updated. YAY!!!

Mountain weekend

2009-02-18T09:30:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago we went to Breckenridge for the weekend. We went with some our friends the Kovach family, Cory and Tiffany and their kids, and Blake & Sara and family. It was so much fun. We always have such a great time there, and Aydan always cries when we leave. He screams, "I want to live in the Mountain house, I don't want to go home!" We of course would all of love to live in the mountain house. We had lots of fun playing in the snow and hanging out together. The kids were great. We had 11 kids and no fighting or arguing. It was a miracle. Definitely a good group to travel with. Here are a few pictures of the kids sledding.Ruby Kovach pulling Aydan up the hill. Aydan has no problems with a girl doing all of the work.Ruby and Cory - They are adorable. She is pointing to all of the boys who stalled on the sled.Aydan zooming down the hill, he almost ran right into me.Aydan was racing Tiffany and Ruby down the hill.Now he is having Tiffany pull him up the hill. He is lazy, always hitcing a ride.

On the House Hunt

2009-02-17T12:48:00.001-07:00

Many of you already know we are looking to buy a house. We have been looking for about six months and this week we think we found the right house. This was a really hard task. I am pretty picky about where I want to live. Specific boundaries/wards. Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of the people in my ward, but we are ready to find a more active ward. The house also has to meet many specifications. Had to have a big kitchen with a pantry. A room to teach piano lessons in. A basement with potential for room to grow. A backyard big enough for my kids and dog. A master bedroom with a 5-piece master bath. Be in school district 12. Have a fire place. And it had to be in my target area. So we have finally found this home. We made and offer last week and they have accepted and now we are waiting for the bank to approve the short sale. I don't know why they call it a short sale, because really it takes forever, meaning it should be called a long sale. It is a great house. It has almost everything we were looking for minus a fireplace and out of the school district. Things we can fix. It has 3 bedrooms and a loft, and my favorite - upstairs laundry room. A huge basement and views of Denver and the Mountains. We are so excited. We are just waiting now to see if it all works out and if it does, we will be moving in late April. YAY!!! We will keep you updated!

VERY LATE PICTURES!! BUT SO CUTE!

2009-02-03T13:55:00.001-07:00

Granny and Asher Christmas Morning

Waking Aydan Christmas Morning!

Traci Getting Engaged

Aydan And Asher opening stockings!

Traci said "Yep!"

My mom and Asher

Mac Kissing Asher

Aydan and Great Grandpa Jim

Granny and Papa relaxing with the boys!

Our semi-decent Family picture!

Christmas Sunday by the tree

The boys before church

My adorable parents!

My Dad with Asher, I think Asher looks most like my dad!

Asher's first bath with Aydan!

Aydan performing at preschool

Never too early for Aydan's first Harley! Thanks grandpa Larry!

My mom and Aydan Christmas Sunday!

Aunt Laura and Asher in a Santa Hat!

Asher's auntie Amy! - He adores her

Asher's First Christmas Presents!

Sorry for all of the late pictures, but I had to post them. Soon I will get to what is going on with us now!

Late Christmas Update!

2009-01-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is already January. This last month has just flown by so fast. We had a great Christmas with both of our families. We just split our time between the families and make sure get all of the fun in. Aydan was the sheep in the Christmas story at my grandma's house. He was perfect. CRAZY! He thought sheep were supposed to jump and bark... he must have thought he was a dog. It was his first year to participate and he was adorable. Asher was happy to just have wrapping paper to play with.

Christmas Day was great. We started with presents at my moms and then Aaron and I got to fool Traci and surprise her with Collin there to propose. I picked him up from the airport and she was completely clueless, even when he walked in, she didn't notice for a few minutes. We got some great pictures of her looking like a nerd, trying to figure out why were taking so many pictures of her. What an awesome Christmas present to her. She will be getting married March 14th. After the excitement with my parents, we ventured to Aaron's moms. She made a great Brunch and then we opened presents with his family. Aydan had so much fun opening presents at each house we went to. This Christmas we stayed with Aaron's family and jsut got to hang out for the day, it was so nice to relax. We watched Wall-e, which Aydan loved and we ended up buying the next week. Asher thoroughly enjoyed his first Christmas. We loved the Holidays but are grateful they are over. We get to have Aaron back. His work schedule was so crazy and now we get to see him. YAY!

We had a great New Year's Eve with our friends. We had a really fun idea of doing a progressive dinner, restaurant style. So, each couple got assigned a course and then they had to pick a restaurant. It was so fun, we went to 3 different restaurants and had so much fun trying new places. I love hanging out with friends. It was a great time.

Aydan was so happy to go back to school after the long Christmas vacation, he also started up swimming lessons again. It has been so much fun to watch him learn new things and make new friends.

I don't have time to sort through pictures today but I will post lots of pictures tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

2008-12-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have had time to blog. It really has been so chaotic with all of the holiday things going on. Well, to start, we had a great Thanksgiving. When we do holidays, we end up always eating two meals. It is so hard. We literally went to Anne's house at noon, ate at 2:15 and had to be at my grandma's by 4. It was lots of fun but too much food. What is nice, we get to pick what we like at each house and eat it. So really I get the best foods out of Thanksgiving. We have been so blessed this year and we had to much to be thankful for. Asher is now 7 months and he has been so much fun to have in our home. Aaron was promoted at work and we are just blessed to be a family.
We got a chance to put our tree up and Aydan really enjoyed putting ornaments up and helping. It was so fun to see his excitement. He asks every day if it will be Christmas and then proceeds to tell me why each day should be Christmas. He thought you only put up the tree for Christmas, he thought if it snowed it mean it was Christmas, and if we don't go to school for a few days it must be Christmas. I hope this Christmas lives up to his big expectations. We aren't really into talking about Santa, so all he knows about santa he learns from TV. There are so many fun Christmas programs going on with church and I just love to participate in music. I went to my mom's enrichment last week and it was wonderful. A few women shared favorite stories and then my sister sang, I played the piano, and Jeanie sang and played guiter. It was so fun, and a great start to the Christmas season.

I for some reason get a little down at the holidays. I think sometimes it is because I miss Lilia so much and I think of what she would be doing if she was here. I find myself lost in thought some days, thinking about the "what might have beens". I just miss her and the holidays remind me of how thankful I am for her, but they also bring up the feelings of loss and sadness of not having her with me. This season I have decided I am just going to try to do as much service as possible to get myself lost in the season. I am doing a secret santa, gifting Christmas so those in need, and you may find me doing the twelve days of Christmas. I just love secret acts of service.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and we will let you know how ours goes. Merry Christmas!

HELP... I'm too BUSY!

2008-11-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

So this week I met with a nutrionist as a free part of my gym membership, yep I joined a gym. I have decided and am motivated to get down to my pre-babies weight. I was pregnant for about two years straight so this the first fall I have not been pregnant since 2005. Crazy! So my nutrionist asked what my goal was and sadly enough I said, "I want to lose the weight by June, before I get pregnant again." I know it isn't the typical answer, "to fit in a swimsuit," but I want to be healthy for my next pregnancy. This was very puzzling to her at first. Why would someone want to lose weight just to get pregnant and gain weight shortly after?!? Well, I am going to get in shape and eat right and work out. This is where the TOO BUSY comes in.

I have all of these goals and motivation but how do I create more hours in the day to make it to the gym and eat right. I realized this week that I am a pretty busy person with church, work, kids, and teaching piano lessons. How do people do it? DO they have a magic potion to create more hours in the day to make healthy meals and clean the house and get to the gym? Do they have a magic potion to just make you instantly thin and looking great? I need the secret. I got to my breaking point last night when I realized I was not going to make it to the gym last night or tonight. TWO DAYS IN A ROW... this isn't looking good. HELP!! I need help... How do women do it all?

Shafenberg Look-alike Meter

2008-11-13T21:38:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Old photos - Making a family tree

Shafenberg Look-alike Meter

2008-11-13T21:33:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Aydan's Halloween Parade, Halloween day and Breckenridge

2008-11-12T09:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so be prepared for a long post. I have had no time to blog so I have a lot to blog about. Aydan was in his first Halloween parade at school. All four of the 3 year old classes sang songs and paraded. Peyton was a Bear, Aydan a dog, and Max was Batman.

Aydan is right next to his "girlfriend" Megan. She was a pretty cute witch.

Peyton Paraded as Bear, he was so cute.

Max was a tough Batman.
Aydan's Class picture!

Amy's Birthday Lunch
On Halloween we celebrated Amy's Birthday with lunch and some playing at the Orchard. Amy turned the big 3-0!!! Here are some cute pictures of the kids playing before our fun night of trick or treating.

Mya and Aydan sitting in an apple!

Aunt Jen and Baby Asher!

Mya and Jaxon posing on a giant apple.
We had a great time and Amy had a pretty great Birthday.

Halloween
For Halloween we went to my mom's house for some games and then went trick or treating around the neighborhood. The kids were pretty good for the first four houses but then they all wanted to be carried. This didn't mean they were done, but that they just wanted to be carried from house to house.

Mya and Aydan bobbing for apples.

All of the kids laughing at Uncle Clay because he was blowing bubbles in the water.

Asher and Grandpa

Aydan at the first house of the night.

Aydan was a pretty cute puppy

Aaron missed most of the trick or treating, but I got this great picture of him and Asher. Asher was adorable as a lion.

This is just a comparison picture of Aydan when he was a lion for Halloween in 2005. They look pretty similar.
Halloween was so much fun this year. I love dressing the boys up. Aaron and I also dressed up for a Halloween party, but I hate to dress up.

Breckenridge
We have been so busy and needed a little break so we headed to Breckenridge for the weekend. We took the Matt and Mindy Carlson Family. The kids had a great time playing and we had a great competition of Dance Dance Revolution. Here are a few cute pictures from the river of Aydan and a really cute picture of the boys with Aaron.

1 Year Ago

2008-10-31T13:30:00.000-06:00

Last year at this time I lost someone very dear to me. My Grandma Lorraine was 80 years old and she was wonderful. She lived in Idaho and I regret not seeing her more before she died. I have been thinking about her lately and how much I wish she could see Asher. She came to visit us for her 80th Birthday in March of last year and we had a great time celebrating with her. At the time I was about 8 months pregnant with Lilia. She was really excited to have another great granddaughter. About a week after she came to visit we lost our sweet baby Lilia. I remember grandma being so concerned for me and she called at least once a week that next month. I became so close to her. We just would talk and she was such a great support. Last year when I attended her funeral I was comforted to know she was now able to take care of Lilia.

I wish you could have met my grandma. She taught me some of the greatest things. My favorite game growing up was a game called bug. All you needed to play was dice, a pen and paper. She knew how to make something out of anything. When she would visit, she would always bring us crafts and we loved it. She even helped me learn to make some of my favorite foods. She made the best enchiladas and these amazing dipped marshmallows. YUM! I miss her a lot. I wish my kids knew her the way I did. I am so happy I got this great picture of Aydan and her when she was here last. He knows her and loves her.

Tears, Teething and Throwing Up

2008-10-18T16:48:00.000-06:00

This week has been all about the 3 Ts of my life.

Asher has gone from the Happy, sleep through night baby to the crying, unhappy, won't sleep, TEETHING kind. He is having a rough week with his teeth as you can see in the picture above.

The boys were so cranky this week that I really needed a break. So, last night I decided to take Aydan to parent's night out at the preschool. Basically they babysit and you get go out on a date. Now because my husband works crazy hours I had to go on the date part by myself. When Aaron finally got off of work we met up and after just 15 short minutes I get a call from the preschool saying, "Aydan said he had a frog in his throat... he THREW UP, but don't worry you don't have to come get him." Yeah right!! Leave my kid to get others sick, I think not. Date Over!

TEETHING and THROWING UP have caused not only both of my boys to cry, but me too. If you didn't know, I am a crier. I cry when I am happy, mad, sad, any mood. Sometimes I just cry for no reason at all. Needless to say we have been crying all week. I can't wait to start a new week. Hopefully the TEETHING will get better, there will be no THROWING UP and I will shed less TEARS.

A New Blogger

2008-10-16T15:00:00.000-06:00

I have been talked into doing a blog. My husband began blogging and has failed at updating our friends and family. I don't really like the idea of blogging, but I am going to try. I will say, I do love to read a good blog and you may call me a blog stalker.

I guess I will just start with a little update about what we are up to. Aydan is now 3 and began preschool in September. He loves it. He claims to have three girlfriends, Megan, Faith and Sophia. I kid you not, he is a major flirt. He says he is not friends with boys, just his cousins. He loves school, and his teacher says he is doing very well.

Asher is almost 6 months and time has just flown by. He is getting so big and has such a cute personality. He already has 2 teeth and just loves his older brother. I have never heard him laugh as hard as he does when he laughs at Aydan. It is so fun to see them interact and become friends.

Aaron is working for UPS. By work I mean, he puts in about 12-14 hour days at least 3 days a week and normal shifts the other 2 days. He FINALLY got promoted and is a full time driver-supervisor. We just had our 5 year Anniversary last week and I can't imagine my life without him.

I am staying busy working full time and being a full time mom or mama as Aydan calls me. Now you know why I am going crazy. This fall has made me love living in Colorado even more than I already do. See, I am a boring blogger, hopefully I will get better.